The List: 4 Jul 2002 (Issue 444)

Films screening this fortnight are listed below with certificate, star rating, credits, brief review and venue details. Film index compiled by Miles Fielder

About a Boy ( 12) 0000 (Chris and Paul Weitz. L'K/L'S. 2002) Hugh Grant. Nicholas Hoult. Toni Collette. 101min. Grant breaks free of his posh fop screen persona to play layabout Will Freeman in this wining adaptation of Nick Hornby‘s novel. Supporting a loafers‘ life of telly. booze and birds with wealth from his late father. Freeman‘s womanising brings him into contact with Marcus (Hoult). the young son of suicidally depressed Fiona (Collette). who proceeds to change the wastrel‘s life. The \\'eitz brothers keep things bright and breezy. but top honours go to Grant and Hoult who spend the film swapping places as the titular character. V'ikingar Cinema. Largs; Showcase. Paisley.

American Magus (tbc) (Paola Igliori. ltaly/L'SA. 2002) 93min. Full-length documentary about the cult ﬁgure Harry Smith who became known with his Anthology of American Folk Music in 1952. CCA. Glasgow.

anniversary of the 1905 revolution. liisetistein's all-time classic follow s the mutiny by the crew of the Prince Potent/tin atid the support giveti by the local civilian population. who are movvn down by the ('zar's troops in the famous ()dessa Steps sequence. Fxpressiv'e camera technique atid a grasp of editing that wrote the textbooks are just some of the innovations that ptit liisenstein atid Rtissian film ﬁrmly on the cinematic tnap. (EFT. Glasgow.

Behind the Sun ( 12) 0000 (Walter Salles. Brazil. 2002) Rodrigo Santoro. Jose Dumont. Flavia Marco Antonio. 105mm. lit a remote northeastern province in Brazil circa 1910. a deadly feud is being waged between two neighbouring families. 'l‘onho (Satitoro). the middle son of an impoverished sugar-cane farmer (I)umont). is asked by his father to avenge the killing of his elder brother. A terrified 'I'onho fulfils his filial duty. but the cycle of violence resumes. ('onvincingly acted and impressively shot. Behind lllt’ Sun incorporates symbolic elements w itliiti the framework of an emotionally engaging storyline. It may draw on an array of sources. not least Greek tragedy arid the American Western. and yet it) a world scarred by atavistic conllicts. the film‘s contemporary resonance is considerable. Filttihouse. lidinburgh.

psychological thriller takes us through a strange story involving the collision of the lives of two women and the unexpected arrival of an estranged mother. Part of the French Film Festival. Gl’l’. Glasgow: Filmhouse. Iiditiburgh.

and ranting about the modern male. she entatigles herself with nasty boss Daniel ('leavet' (Grant ). before taking up with nice Mark Darcy (Firth). ()n paper. Jones was a snivelling. neurotic wreck. on film she's a stiivelling. neurotic wreck who also liappetis to be consistently hilarious. And '/.el|weger adds a touch of warmth to what is essentially a wholly unsympathetic. brittle character. l'GC Renfrew Street. Glasgow; Cameo. lidinburgh.

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin ( l5) .0. (John Madden. l'K/l'S/l-‘t'ance. 2001 ) Nicolas Cage. Penelope Cruz. John Hurt. 120mm. This adaptation of Louis de Bernieres' bestseller sees Greece taken by the Italian Army during World War 11. Captain ('orelli and his squad of opera enthusiasts arrive on the island of (‘ephallonia. causing much uproar. And when the ('aptain is billeted to Dr lannis' (llurt) house. (’orelli and the Doctor‘s beautiful daughter. Pelagia ((‘ruzi. fall in forbidden love. Madden has sttick to his guns and tnade a movie at once distinctly litit'opean attd likely to appeal to Attiet‘icati audiences. ('ommercial. unfaithful to the book. but still head and shoulders above any of the eye candy llolly wood has to offer. l'(i(‘ Parkhead. Glasgow. Chicken ( lis’) (Various) 80min. (‘ompilation of gay short films. takitig its title from a short drama iii which two boys push a game of dare as far as it w ill go. Part of the Lesbian and Gay film Festival oti Tour. (ll-'1'. Glasgow; Filttihousc. lidinbut‘gh.

The Comedy of Innocence (PG) .00. (Raoul Ruiz. France. 2000) Isabelle lluppert. ('harles Berling. Jeanne Balibar. 95min. Psychological thriller in which a young boy spurns his mother for someone whom he refers to as his ‘real mother'. Smartly directed by Ruiz and well-play ed by his cast. ('ameo. lidinburgh. Comment j’ai tue mon pere ( 15) .0. (Anne Fontaine. France/Spain. 2001 ) ('harles Berling. Natasha Regnier. Amira Kasar. 08min. The life of Jean-late (Berliitg). a successful Versailles gerontologist with a beautiful young wife lstt (chnier) and a loyal mistress (Kttsttt'l. is disrupted by the sudden reappearance of his sev etity -soitiething father Maurice (Michel Bottqttet ). who decades earlier had walked out on his family to becoitte a doctor iii Africa. Avoiding simplistic psychological ‘c\p|anatiotis' for its characters' actions. the film scrutinizes the father-son conflict with icy assurance. and clima\es in an emotional confrontation of venottious intensity. Filttiliouse. lidinburgh.